As used in this chapter:
(1) "Libel" means a malicious defamation, expressed either by printing or by signs or pictures or the like, tending to blacken the memory of an individual who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue or reputation, or publish the natural defects of an individual who is alive, and thereby to expose the individual to public hatred, contempt or ridicule.
(2) "Slander" means any libel communicated by spoken words.